Name: Raisin Wine
Ingredients: 1 pound white sugar; 2 pounds seeded and chopped raisins; 1 lemon (juice and half the grated peel); 2 gallons boiling water

Why it works: Sugar and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,481 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Raisin Wine

Ingredients

1 pound white sugar
2 pounds seeded and chopped raisins
1 lemon (juice and half the grated peel)
2 gallons boiling water

Directions

Make the wine

Combine sugar, raisins, lemon juice, and grated peel in a stone jar.
Pour in boiling water and stir well.
Stir the mixture daily for one week.

Strain and bottle

After a week, strain the mixture and bottle it.
The wine will be ready to use in ten days.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Raisin + lemontop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,742 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Raisins: Provide sugars, flavour and body that give the wine its character as they ferment.
White sugar: Serves as the main food for yeast, producing alcohol during fermentation and adding sweetness.
Lemon: Adds acidity and brightness that balances the sweetness and aids a clean flavour.